India and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Regime - The Perennial Outlier

About the Book

Numerous behavioural and systemic factors have been cited to explain India’s nuclear decisions, though the influence of normative instruments of non-proliferation and the overarching regime on its nuclear policies has not received sufficient attention. This book seeks to address this gap through a holistic examination of India’s relationship with the non-proliferation regime and its dominant structures. The study explores the complexities of the regime as a functional system, and applies the Indian case study to understand the dynamics of state–regime interplays. By dissecting its core frameworks like non-proliferation and counterproliferation, A. Vinod Kumar highlights the conceptual opacities that drive the structural crises of the regime, and the paradigm shifts that characterize its current churning.

The book describes India as a unique case of an outlier surviving outside the regime’s overarching system, as a nuclear-capable state with prolonged record of resistance (and selective adherence), but ending up seeking opportunities to engage with its normative structures. The ideological and policy shifts that had shaped India’s transformative journey from a perennial outlier to one seeking greater integration with the regime, though, also exemplifies the underlying strategic paradoxes and dogmatic incongruities. The book assesses how these dynamics will determine India’s role in global anti-proliferation and its status in the emerging global nuclear order.

About the Author

A. Vinod Kumar is Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi and a visiting faculty at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies (IFPS), University of Calcutta. He specializes in nuclear policy issues, including counterproliferation, missile defence and nuclear energy, and has published extensively on these topics. Earlier, he worked with the Indian Pugwash Society for a Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) project on India’s Role in the Emerging Global Nuclear Order. Prior to joining the Society, he worked as a journalist with some leading Indian media houses. Kumar also coordinates the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) at IDSA, and has spearheaded an unprecedented archival mining campaign as part of research on India’s nuclear history.

Contents

Foreword by C. Raja Mohan

Preface

1. Introduction
2. From Non-proliferation to Counterproliferation: The Regime’s Conceptual Crisis
3. The State and the Regime: The Complex Interplay of Actors, Norms and Interests
4. India, NPT and the Non-proliferation Regime
5. The Routes to Nuclear Disarmament: An Indian Perspective
6. Counterproliferation: The Quest for an Indian Strategy
7. India’s Participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative: The Counterproliferation Case Study
8. India’s Role in Global Anti-proliferation: The Post Nuclear Deal Agenda
9. Conclusion